Learning To Sign
by imotherfuckingcannotdecide
Summary: Humanstuck, GamTav Gamzee doesn't know how to take care of his now mute brother, Kurloz. But with a tad bit of help from the guy at Specialties Daycare, Tavros Nitram, he might be able to manage. Rating will most likely change. Don't Read if you don't like romantic interests of the same gender.


"Excuse me, is this Gamzee Makara?" A voice came over the phone as he answered on the third ring. Everybody knows not to call him while he's working, it might get him fired. Must be super important, especially since he didn't recognize the mubber.

"That's all up and correct, mother fucker." There was a pause before the voice spoke again.

"Someone broke into your house... nothing was stolen, but two were killed. We found a young boy, he's here at the hospital right now." Gamzee let his grip tighten around the phone so as not to abruptly drop it. "We will brief you on what we found, and what we assume happened, when you get to the hospital." He languidly grabbed pen and paper to write down the hospital name. Everything felt so serene like he didn't just get the news that both of his parents died. After copying down the hospital name he hung up the phone and started to pack his stuff.

"Hey, Tezi, tell Doc that some stuff came up and I can't stay tonight." His speech lacked his usual cuss words and happy lift, Terezi notice immediately.

"You never cancel, unless... did something happen to Mime Jr?" He chuckled lifelessly at his little bro's nickname.

"No, he should be... fine. Just cover my barshift for me, would you?" She nodded wordlessly, strange emotion filling her sightless eyes. He left quietly not acknowledging anyone as he slowly made his way towards his broken down, blue-purple truck. The drive was silent, except for the occasional honk made by another driver in another car. Gamzee made it there in ten minutes, relatively quickly considering the hospital is just under a half hour drive away from the club he works at. He continued past the front desk, not waiting to check in with the nurses, just immediately walking up to the police officer. She turned when she heard his converse squeak against the floor.

"Hey, man, I got the call-." It was Latula, Terezi's aunt.

"Hey, before you tell me what you found can I see my brother?" He felt his hands begin to shake, and his throat dry up a bit. She gave him a look of withering pity.

"Yeah, sure, you can do whatever you feel like. Just follow me up to the room they have him in. And, boy, is he weird he refuses to open his mouth for some odd reason. They have him all bandaged up though." Gamzee froze where he was.

"Does he look like he's trying not to cry?" Gamzee felt his heart had almost stopped.

"Hmm? Well, yeah, i guess you could say that-" He gripped her arms looking down at her with terror in his eyes.

"Latula, what is the room number?" She rushed out the numbers, and he ran till he found it, opening the door and walking over to the bed, taking in his brother's appearance while he went. Most of the Kurloz's makeup was wiped off, there was a red handprint on his face, he lifted the ice pack up to his cheek when Gamzee walked in trying to wave with his other injured arm. Kurloz only let out a wince, before setting his arm back down. Gamzee made a beeline to the bed, gripping Kurloz's jaw. He gasped when he finally got the boy to open his jaw and blood came pouring out like a waterfall, with a huge chunk off tongue. He inspected his mouth to find that more than half of the tongue had been chewed off.

"Mother fucking god dammit," He let out a couple of loud swears, gathering the attention of both of the nurses bustling about the room. "Get a mother fucking doctor or something to all up and sew my brother's tongue back on." One of the nurse shuffled over to pull me away and try to stop the bleeding the other led me out of the room before going to find a doctor.

Later Gamzee felt a shake on his shoulder, he moved his eyes slowly to look up at the other troll. When had he sat down in this uncomfortable plastic chair? He let his head roll to the side groggily before he registered that someone had been talking to him for quite a while now, it seems.

"I am Dr. Vantas. I am here to talk to you about your younger sibling. You are Mr. Gamzee Makara right." Gamzee blinked blearily a couple times before sitting up straighter at the formal tone. The man in front of him was wearing grey slacks and a red turtleneck under his white coat. He held the standard clipboard, with a stethoscope hanging around his neck and had a look to him of someone who liked to hear their own voice just a little_ too_ much. He nodded and the ginger doctor immediately smashed some pressing questions into his skull. "Do you know what could have triggered this? What could have convinced him to do that to himself?" A sour look crawled its way onto the clowns face.

"Ever since Kurloz was little he has had nightmares. Horrible nightmares, he would wake up screaming from them. He would keep on screaming and screaming and screaming, gradually getting louder until his mouth snapped shut, usually biting a hole through his tongue." He spoke low, an obvious hint of unhappiness and anger, tinting his voice. "I usually had to patch him up at home cause he is scared that the people in the hospital would hurt him because of his voice. Bringing him to a hospital was the stupidest idea anyone of you could have. He didn't want you to hurt him because of his voice so he desperately tried to get rid of it." Gamzee's eyes had a hollowed out look to them as he spoke of his younger brother, he blinked the look away, letting tiredness fill his eyes instead. The Doctor was quiet before letting out a sigh.

"I didn't mean to offend, I was simply wondering. Silly me. But it seems your brother has succeeded. We cannot reattach his tongue. You discovered it soon enough to where we could stop the bleeding and repair most of the tissue, before he fell unconscious, but not soon enough to save the tongue itself. He still has enough of his tongue to pronounce simple letters and such, but he cannot form full words, let alone sentences." The orange haired man spared a glance towards the other, he resembled a sad clown portrait.

"Can I see him?" He fidgeted in the uncomfortable seat, wishing the doctor would stop scrutinizing him.

"Well, why wouldn't you be able to see him?" The doctor had a matter of fact tone to his voice, but it seemed he has had that with a lot of the things he has said. "I have a few questions for you though." Gamzee stood and stretched, before making his way toward his brothers room, waving his hand in a signal of permission.

"Ask what you would like. I might answer honestly." The doctor uses his short legs to catch up to the other's leisurely pace. A heavy sigh sounded from the smaller.

"Since you are 21, you will be in charge of taking care of your brother. Do you drink or do drugs?"

He held a pen to his clipboard, waiting for an answer.

"I use medical marijuana for my mood swings. I get violent when they happen. My parents knew. My brother knows I take medicine for my 'other me', is what he calls it, he doesn't know what kind. " Gamzee sighs and runs a long fingered hand through his hair, "I work at a bar, but drinking has never been appealing to me. I don't drink." I see him scribble something down in the corner of my eye, as I realize I've made it too the doorway, I stopped abruptly, causing the doctor to run into me.

"You could at least give a tad bit of warning before doing that. Now, how much does your job pay? Can you care for him by yourself?" He looks at Gamzee expectantly, their eyes meet before either of them start speaking.

"My job pays enough for me to support myself and my brother, I've always made sure of that. I do get extra money when I cover for Terezi." The eye contact is broken as Gamzee looks away to gaze into the room. He turns around to face the shorter man. "It's a club. Terezi is one of the dancers I know. I do fill in for her sometimes. This is one of the few things Kurloz doesn't know about me." He faces himself towards the inside of the room after noticing that the ginger doctor isn't writing anymore, walking into the room and shuffling over to the bedside. Kurloz looks up with a calm even gaze. They stare into each other's purple tinted orbs for quite a while. Then Gamzee gripped his chin and making him open his mouth, like he had the first time. There is definitely more than half of his tongue gone. With a sigh the clown seated himself on the bed, down by where the boy's feet are. Kurloz grabs a mini-marker board sitting by the bed.

'Are you mad?' The little boy frowns at the board before showing it.

Gamzee shook his head.

'Then what are you feeling? I know you aren't happy.'

"Are you happy? I'm not happy if you aren't." _Sly, avoiding your feels like that. _

'Our parents just got murdered and I had to watch. Would you be happy?'

"I see, no need to be sarcastic." Both of the two painted men feel their lips twitch in the corners. It's a Makara thing. The twitches stop as I try to think of a school he could go to.

'I can't go to regular school anymore, can I?'

I didn't have anything to say. Lucky me, that motor mouth doctor did.


End file.
